Season of the Comet
by Ukyou Kuonji
Summary: The story of Comet Kanae, as told by its *real* discoverer.


Sometimes, the old ways are better.  
  
Yes, I've heard the Chairman has some state-of-the-art equipment in   
his office at the top of the Ohtori tower. So what? It's not like   
I'd be allowed up there to use it. I'm just a first-year high school   
student - what interest would He have in me? So I have to make the   
best of my own clunky telescope that I've set up on the roof of the   
West dorm.  
  
It's just as well, really. Planetariums are nice, but all they can   
display is what they're programmed to... they show what is known.   
They can't discover new things...  
  
...things like this...  
  
...now, since when did the Pleiades have *eight* stars?  
  
==========  
SEASON OF THE COMET  
a Shojou Kakumei Utena fanfiction by Ukyou Kuonji  
==========  
Shojou Kakumei Utena is the creation and property of Chiho Saito and   
Be-Papas. No infringement is intended  
----------------  
Mild spoilers... all action takes place some time after the series   
thus far translated commercially by Software Sculptors. No spoilers   
about Ends of the World or the Revolution itself, however...  
==========  
  
I don't believe this... could there really be an eighth star up there?   
There's no way my little telescope should be able to pick up something   
that the big observatories have missed all these years... can there be?  
  
I've got to get my camera attachment, and take a picture of this...  
  
***  
  
Gosh, it's been a while since I tried to hook this thing up. Good   
thing my laptop's batteries have a good charge in them... that way,   
I can digitize this photo and forward it for confirmation. I *have*   
to know what I've got, here...  
  
Okay... just a little more to the right... focus, focus... there,   
that's got it. Point, click... and we might well have something.  
  
I know, I know, I shouldn't get my hopes up. If nothing else, the   
Hubble probably picked this up a long time ago: it just wasn't   
considered stop-press news, so I never heard about it.  
  
But all the same, I'm curious... just what am I looking at here?  
  
Now where did I put the email address for the Royal Astronomical   
Society...? Hope they can read my broken English... my grades are   
good, but it's only high school level, after all...  
  
***  
  
It's amazing how long a day can go by when you're waiting for some   
important news. The only class I could even remotely pay attention   
to was English, and that only to correct the grammar errors in my   
letter to the RAS.  
  
I have *got* to get back to the dorms and see if I can find it again...   
whatever it is...  
  
***  
  
Okay, got the computer hooked up to the scope so I get a digital view   
directly. Let's aim it back to the Pleiades... see if we can find it...  
  
Oh, no... there's only seven of them again. What happened to it...?  
  
Wait a minutes... there it is, over a few fractions of a degree. It's   
still there... and it's moved! This is fantastic! Gotta take another   
picture...  
  
All right... this has *got* to be something important...  
  
***  
  
Come onnn... damn, but these modem connections here at Ohtori can be   
so *slow* sometimes... okay, there we go... and I've got a message   
from the RAS!  
  
A comet! I've discovered a comet! They say they're working on the   
calculations of its orbit, but they will keep me informed about...  
  
...Comet Kanae...? Wha...?  
  
It has a name already? I thought I discovered it... shouldn't I get   
the credit?  
  
***  
  
At least the Society is kind enough to explain. Seems our beloved   
Chairman has exercised His 'droit du seigneur' to the intellectual   
property of an Ohtori student (me) for the sole purpose of naming my   
discovery (and yes, I *am* on record as discovering Comet Kanae...   
thank the kami for small favors) after His fiancee. A romantic   
gesture, sure, but couldn't the lovebird have discovered his *own*   
comet? He's supposed to have all that equipment...  
  
Of course, maybe I can take that as a moral victory. For all that   
machinery He has in that huge tower, a puny freshman with a telescope   
and a computer beat Him to it. Ha! Take *that*, Mr. Chairman!  
  
And what kind of a present is that for a fiancee? Oh sure, it looks   
pretty from here, but we all know it's made up of ice and debris.   
Surely the Chairman could think of a more appropriate token of esteem   
than something that's cold and filthy...  
  
Besides, it's not like this is something I'm ever going to be able to   
point out to my kids someday: "See that comet up there? Over by the   
Pleiades? Your dad discovered that, way back in high school." Nope.   
According to the Royal Astronomical Society, Comet Kanae's orbit takes   
it around the sun only once every 20,736 years. A quick flash through   
the sky, and then it's gone for what might as well be forever.  
  
***  
  
Anyway, I don't care what its name is... it's *my* comet, and I'm   
gonna keep an eye on it. By now, I don't even need a telescope; you   
can just look up into the sky and see it. It's a greyish smudge at   
the hem of Orion's tunic, but it's there. I still prefer the view   
from the telescope, though, and nightfall regularly finds me on the   
roof of the West Dorm, staring into the sky.  
  
Better into the sky than onto the quad, though. Now that it's visible   
to the naked eye, the Chairman himself can be found walking around,   
arm-in-arm with *my* comet's namesake. I can see them from my perch   
on the roof as he points out stars, planets, and finally the comet,   
to her. If I train my scope onto them, I bet I can see a moist   
sparkle in her eyes, and a dreamy smile on her face: "Oh, Akio!"  
  
I stare down at the two of them, scowling. I don't know what bugs me   
more; that's he's squiring his Kanae around while I shiver alone atop   
the dorms, or that he's pointing at *my* Kanae, acting like it was   
*his*. Where does he get the right to...?  
  
Oh, kuso... he's turned around. He sees me up here. I can see that   
glint in his eye from all the way up here, and I don't need a telescope   
to know that it's not a good sign.  
  
I take the hint... I pack up and take everything back to my room as   
fast as possible.  
  
***  
***  
  
So for the past couple of weeks, I haven't been on the roof nights...   
much as I'd like to keep track of my comet, especially as it takes   
that turn 'round the sun, and *really* gets bright, I'm not going out   
if I see... Him... down there. Kami-sama, but the Chairman gives me   
the creeps.  
  
Yes, yes... my roommate tells me the two of them haven't been making   
the rounds in the evenings, but I'm not taking any chances. Besides,   
it's warmer inside, anyway... and I can keep tabs on it from the Royal   
Observatory's website.   
  
Hmm... looks like Comet Kanae's orbit is gonna take it real close to   
the planet Venus... man, what it would be like to see it from there,   
huh?  
  
***  
  
Tonight's the night... my comet is gonna pass right behind Venus.   
The Chairman be damned - I'm not gonna miss this for anything.  
  
I set up my stuff on the roof, a little clumsily. Hey, it's been a   
while... so sue me, okay?  
  
Can't miss Venus - the evening star is brilliant tonight. And Comet   
Kanae is just about there... in fact, it almost looks as if it might   
crash into the planet. Such a sight... wonder why there's no one else   
on the quad to watch it?  
  
Well, there's one person, anyway. A girl... blonde and tall and   
ladylike... and frail, too. Why, she almost looks like a ghost in   
the moonlight.  
  
Waitaminnit, isn't that Kanae herself? What's she doing out without   
her darling Chairman? And... why on earth does she look so pale?  
  
Whoops, never mind that for now... gotta pay more attention to the   
sky... I just missed the head of the comet passing behind the... uh...  
  
What happened? Where'd the thing go? I *know* I just saw it... it's   
not like you could miss that tail. But it just winked out, like   
somebody just flipped a switch. I hope it's just something wrong   
with the lens, here...   
  
Nope, the thing's gone. What the hell is going on with...?  
  
...Kanae? Kanae?  
  
Hey, someone get an ambulance!  
  
***  
***  
  
Sorry about leaving so abruptly like that... but she just collapsed on   
the quad, right before my eyes. Someone had to do *something*. Yes,   
she was still breathing and all that. No, I don't know what happened   
to her... the doctor sent me back here after they admitted her.  
  
And yes, I'm going to visit her tomorrow... Chairman or no. Why not? There's nothing interesting in the skies, anymore...  
  
***  
  
He's never come by. All this time she's been in hospital, and He's   
never even been by. No, I didn't tell Him - What kind of death wish   
d'ya think I have to wanna talk to Him? - but I assume word would have   
reached Him eventually... she's His fiancee, for gosh sakes! But she   
just lies here, silent and alone... poor thing...  
  
I got an email from the Royal Astronomical Society again... apparantly   
Kanae really did get too close to Venus, and crashed into the planet.   
So that's the end of it. Well, it's not like we would have seen it   
again, anyway...  
  
You know, they say the dinosaurs were wiped out when a comet struck   
the Earth millions of years ago. There's no life on Venus, so that's   
not an issue; but I wonder what sort of effect Kanae might have on   
Venus. Maybe it would dissipate some of that cloud cover that obscures   
its surface - wouldn't it be wonderful to learn what's actually going   
on down there?   
  
And yet... maybe it won't have any impact on the Morning Star at all.  
  
Kami... her hand is so cold...  
  
==========  
  
Just got to thinking how Akio promises to name a comet after his   
fiancee, but after the Black Rose arc, she virtually disappears.   
I decided to let Akio keep his promise while he was still willing   
to do so. So this means that the comet is discovered 'round about   
episode 14 and disappears approximately at episode 32, where Kanae   
herself isn't looking so healthy... no, I have no more idea why than   
this freshman does.   
  
Anyway, thanks to Alan Harnum for keeping me a little more reasonably   
within canon. Hope you like this, especially.  
  
Itsu mo,  
Ucchan ^_^ 


End file.
